


Unkept Promises

by Miikado



Series: Hijack Shorts [8]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst, Character Death, Depression, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-20
Updated: 2015-09-20
Packaged: 2018-04-22 15:04:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4839920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miikado/pseuds/Miikado
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hiccup spends yet another night at a sketchy bar, drinking his problems away.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unkept Promises

**Author's Note:**

> This is a random piece of angsty fic I wrote a while back when my mood was shit. I'm not sure if it even makes sense, but whatever. Enjoy!

Hiccups was going to throw church bell rung twice, a couple of streets further down the road. Almost immediately, there was a deafening rumble, the metallic banging of the 2 A.M. train passing right over the shabby bars in the lowest parts of the city. No one cared, knowing it was the last of the night. In truth, most of the boozers perched on their wobbly stools were too drunk to notice anything, anyway.

Hiccup was slouched in an isolated booth in the corner of the room, far away from the windows. Sitting in one of the worn-down purple seats, he scrapped the edge of his empty drink mindlessly. He didn't care much about the time, and he cared even less about his own state. His vision was blurry from the alcohol, and his mind was numb. How many drinks had he had? Five? Maybe more? He had stopped counting after a while.

This wasn't the kind of place he'd usually find himself in at this hour. He should be safe at home, sleeping on the couch with Toothless curled up against him. Were this any other day, he wouldn't even glance twice at the drunks in their shitty bar, with their nose reddened by cheap booze, and their putrid breaths that smelled of whisky and bad life choices. They used to make him sick.

Now, though, he was almost always feeling sick.

Truth be told, with his distraught gaze and fidgety hands, he didn't stand out in the bar as much as he would've a couple weeks ago. But he didn't care, not one bit. The fuzzy warmth of inebriety was almost comforting, but he was still so numb and cold.

He had been numb and cold for days, now.

Lifting a hand, Hiccup vaguely gestured for the bar-tender to refill his drink. The large man complied, filling the glass in obvious boredom, not paying attention to the brunet more than was necessary.

Somewhere behind, Hiccup heard the chiming of the front door bell, but he knew better than to turn around. People came and went, here. They never stayed, never talked, so it really didn't matter who was at the door.

Nothing mattered.

Suddenly, there was a light pressure on the brunet's shoulder. He didn't turn around. He didn't need to. He knew that familiar touch all to well, and it was this touch that had brought him here.

« Go away. » Hiccup said, his voice too slurred to be convincing.

« You're here again. » Jack said. His voice was calm, but his eyes showed worry.

« Yeah. » The brunet scoffed. Of course he was here, he had been coming here every night for the past few days. His face grew stern. « And  _you_  shouldn't be. » He added bitterly.

« Hiccup, you can't keep coming here… »

Hiccup laughed, louder this time. A few men in the bar turned around, but he didn't care. They could all go to hell.

« Who's gonna stop me? » He asked, swinging his glass and taking a gulp. « You? »

Jack frowned. He hated seeing the brunet in that state, and it had only gotten worse in the last week.

« Everyone is worried… » The white-haired boy said, reaching to grab the other's hand, but Hiccup pulled away before he could touch him. He tone was firmer. « You have to get your act together. You're being selfish. »

« _I'm_  being selfish? » Hiccup repeated, his voice laced with anger and alcohol. « What about  _you_? None of this would've happened if it weren't for  _you_. »

His throat was tight, but he didn't want to cry. He had done that too much, crying. It never helped, only made his head throb. Drinking did too, but at least when he was drunk he could forget, if only for a while.

« I messed up, didn't I? » Jack asked, full of sorrow.

« You  _think_? » Hiccup accused.

He ignored it when the other winced at his words. He wasn't being fair, he knew it. But he didn't give a rat's ass about fairness. Nothing was fair, life certainly wasn't.

But Jack didn't say a word. He never did, not when Hiccup was in that state. He simply pressed a hand gently on the brunet's shoulder, taking away his drink with the other.

« That's enough for tonight, Hic. Let's get you home. » He said, with that sickeningly sweet voice. It was the same voice he used to talk to the kids at his job at the day-care. That firm but caring tone, with carefully chosen words not to rill him up. Hiccup hated that voice.

The brunet grumbled but stood up nonetheless, shrugging off Jack's hand as he tentatively pulled himself out of the booth. By the time he was steady on his feet and able to stand without the world spinning out of focus, Jack was waiting for him by the door. The freckled boy pulled out a few bills from his wallet, and set them on the table.

Hiccup stumbled through the bar on his own, barely glancing up from his feet until he reached the door. He flung it open, and the freezing wind hit him like a wall. The boy repressed a shiver, but the cold came as a soothing relief for the alcohol-induced burn of his cheeks. With a sigh, Hiccup stepped into the dead of night, Jack still on his heels.

Outside, the streets were empty, aside from the few slobs wandering through the flickering streetlights with no destination. Hiccup scoffed bitterly when the thought crossed his mind that at that moment he was one of those slobs with the vacant eyes and the booze on their breaths. Breaths that froze mid-air from the cold when he exhaled, visible like little clouds of vapored liquor.

The brunet walked in silence, the only sounds at this time being that of his feet being dragged on the pavement. He didn't need to turn around to know that Jack was still following. Lighter on his feet, the white-haired boy glided behind the brunet like a ghost, without so much as a rustling of clothes.

Everything around them was shrouded in fog, bathing the streets in an eery glow of white despite it being the middle of the night. It would be a few more hours before the first glimmers of sunlight made their way through the buildings to chase away the shadows. Until then, the darkness would reign over a brumous city. Hiccup found comfort in the mist, finding that it echoed his own smogged mind. He closed his eyes and tried to block out everything around him, from the hum of the passing cars to the ever-so-watchful presence of Jack behind him, until there was nothing but the haze of his own thoughts.

He didn't know how long it took to get home, but soon he found himself in front of the familiar front door of his appartement. He didn't get in, lost in the thought that the rooms on the other side held nothing for him to call home. He didn't need any of that, and he just wished he could stay away forever. He just had to turn around and leave.

Jack reached his side before he could move a muscle, and slender fingers brushed his hand in what was supposed to be a comforting gesture. But Hiccup didn't move.

« You'll catch a cold. » The other boy whispered, reaching for the key in Hiccup's hand and unlocking the door. « Just go inside. » The brunet blinked.

Inside, the rooms held no warmth, no comfort. They were just as dark and cold as the empty streets. He hadn't been home in a while, maybe two or three days. Instead, he had spent the nights slumped in different bars, and when the morning came he wondered through the busy streets. Crowds were the perfect place for people like him. They were lonely places, where no one ever paid mind to others. Crowds were good, they kept him from thinking.

He didn't sleep. He couldn't. Closing his eyes was a torture. Every blink filled his mind with images he had hoped to forget. But they well imprinted in his brain, drilling through his eyelids. So he kept himself awake, tip-toeing on the borders of consciousness, trying to keep his mind numb. And when he did fall asleep, he made sure he was knocked-out enough so the nightmares wouldn't get to him.

They always did, eventually.

Vacant eyes roamed over the empty living room, barely noticing how the place had been cleaned and the empty bottles thrown away. Astrid had probably been over to tidy everything up. She was just trying to help, Hiccup knew that, but he just wished she'd leave him alone. He wished everyone would leave him be.

The brunet dragged his feet to his room, and his muscles gave in the second he reached his bed. He knocked his phone off the mattress, where he had left it the last time he had been home. The device hit the floor with a soft ' _thud_ ', and the screen lit up with the notifications of missed calls and unread text messages. Hiccup ignored them, like he had done countless times before. He'd just delete them in the morning.

He turned his head, and Jack was standing in the doorframe, eyebrows knitted together in worry, hands gripping at the handle like he was physically restraining himself to enter the room.

Hiccup rolled over, turning his back to the white-haired boy.

« Leave me alone, Jack. »

« Hic… » Jack sighed. He took a tentative step forwards. « I know how you feel, I— »

« You don't know  _anything_! » The brunet yelled, pushing himself up in a sitting position.

Blood-shot eyes glared daggers at the other male, and Jack took a shaky step back. He had never seen that look in his boyfriend's eyes. Anger, yes. Even directed towards him sometimes, when he took his pranks a step too far. Hurt, as well, when their screaming matches got out of hand and one of them said something they immediately wished to take back. But never this.

Because Jack had been a shitty boyfriend at times, but he had never thought he would be the reason for so much unfiltered pain and loathing in those emerald eyes he loved so much.

« Hiccup… »

« I don't want to hear it, Jack. » The brunet said. His shoulders slumped and he suddenly looked defeated. « You've done enough, just let me be. »

The white-haired boy felt his throat clutch, stomach dropping at the sight of the other boy curling himself into a ball on the bed, body shaking with now-returning tears. The boy he had loved more than anything else in the world, with whom he had expected to spend the rest of his life.

The boy that had just then given up on him.

« I'm sorry I made a mess of everything. »

Hiccup didn't turn around. He didn't hear a sound, but knew the very second Jack was gone. The silence in the room became deafening, only broken by the pulsating throbs of the brunet's head. He sat on the edge of the bed, eyes focused on the phone still abandoned on the bedroom floor. Picking up the device, he unlocked it with a slide of his thumb, bright screen glaring holes into his eyes. Hesitant finger hovered over the last missed call.

A soft pitter-patter caught his attention, and a black-furred cat stepped into the room, mewling softly as he jumped on the bed and into his owner's lap. Hiccup lifted a hand to pet Toothless' head, earning a comforting purr in return. Closing his eyes tightly, he pressed a button on his phone, and set it on the nightstand as the dialing tone filled the room.

Hiccup curled into his bed again, Toothless pressed against his chest, as the robotic voice of his answering machine enumerated the countless missed calls from the passed few days. When it stopped, a familiar voice took over, its cheerful tone a sharp contrast with the dark numbness that was consuming the brunet.

« _Hey Hic it's Jack! I just got off work and I have big plans for tonight. Aster lent me a movie, it sounds awful and we're totally gonna make out through most of it, it's gonna be awesome. The roads are still under snow so I'll be a little late, but I promise I'll me home soon. Love you!_  »

Hiccup buried his face into the warmth of Toothless' fur, throat clutching as he let out a strangled sob.

« How am I supposed to believe that when you couldn't even keep your promise. »


End file.
